1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integral-type air conditioner in which an indoor heat exchanger, an indoor fan, an outdoor heat exchanger and an outdoor fan are integrally fabricated.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known an integral-type air conditioner in which an indoor heat exchanger, an indoor fan, an outdoor heat exchanger and an outdoor fan are integrally fabricated and also an indoor side chamber having the indoor heat exchanger and the indoor fan arranged therein and the inside of the air conditioner is partitioned into an outdoor side chamber having the outdoor heat exchanger and the outdoor fan arranged therein by a partition plate. Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei-6-2886 discloses one of such integral-type air conditioners.
The air conditioner disclosed in the above publication has indoor and outdoor-side chambers which are partitioned by a partition plate. An indoor heat exchanger, an electrical heater and a cross-flow fan are arranged in this order in the indoor-side chamber, and an outdoor heat exchanger and an outdoor fan device are arranged in the outdoor-side chamber.
In the air conditioner thus constructed, a ventilation port through which the outside air is selectively supplied into the indoor-side chamber is formed in the partition plate, and a ventilation door is pivotally equipped to the partition plate through a hinge. The ventilation port is selectively opened/closed by opening/closing the ventilation door. When the ventilation port is made open by opening the ventilation door, the outside air is passed through the outdoor-side chamber and the ventilation port in this order and introduced into the indoor-side chamber. The outside air thus introduced is guided into the room together with the indoor air heat-exchanged by an indoor heat exchanger in the indoor-side chamber, thereby ventilating the room.
Further, in the above-described air conditioner, the electrical heater is disposed in the indoor-side chamber so as to be adjacent to the indoor heat exchanger. The indoor air heat-exchanged by the indoor heat exchanger is also heated by the electrical heater and then blown out to the room, thereby heating the inside of the room. Here, the indoor heat exchanger is mounted on a drain pan, and drain water occurring on the indoor heat exchanger is collected in the drain pan. The electrical heater is located above the drain pan.
Still further, in the above-described air conditioner, the outdoor fan device comprises a propeller fan device. The outdoor fan device has an outdoor motor mounted on a support leg disposed in the outdoor-side chamber, and the propeller fan is rotated by the outdoor motor. The outdoor motor is disposed at the air-suction side of the propeller side, and the air around the outdoor motor is sucked into the propeller fan by the rotation of the propeller fan. The air thus sucked is blown out to the outdoor heat exchanger.
In the above-described air conditioner, the ventilation device needs not only the ventilation door and the hinge, but also a wire through which the opening/closing operation of the ventilation door is carried out, an operation knob equipped to one end of the wire and other kinds of parts such as an air filter, etc. mounted at the ventilation port. Therefore, the ventilation device itself needs a large number of parts to selectively supply the outside air into the indoor-side chamber, and it must be designed in a complicated structure.
In addition, the above ventilation device is designed in a door structure, and thus only the full-opening/full-closing operation of the ventilation port is allowed. Therefore, it is impossible to adjust the opening degree of the ventilation port. Further, when the ventilation port is kept opened under terrible storm such as hurricane or the like, strong rain and window may pass through the ventilation port and invades into the indoor-side chamber, so that the room is exposed to rain.
Further, if the outside damp air passes through the opened ventilation port into the indoor-side chamber under cooling operation, the damp air is brought into contact with the indoor fan, etc. cooled under cooling operation in the indoor-side chamber to induce dew condensation, so that dew drops thus induced are scattered into the room.
In the above-described air conditioner, the electrical heater is installed in the indoor-side chamber while suspended by a stabilizer mounted at the upper portion of the indoor heat exchanger. Accordingly, the installation precision of the electrical heater is dependent on the fixing precision of the electrical heater to the stabilizer and the fixing precision of the stabilizer to the indoor heat exchanger. As a result, the installation of the electrical heater must be performed sufficiently carefully. In addition, the electrical heater is located above the drain pan as described above, however, the radiation heat of the electrical heater to the drain pan is not sufficiently intercepted, so that the drain pan may be thermally distorted when it is formed of foam polystyrene or the like.
In the above-described air conditioner, the air around the outdoor motor is sucked into the propeller fan by the rotation of the propeller fan. At this time, the air streams flowing from the opposite sides to the propeller fan in the opposite directions comes into collision with each other, so that turbulence may occur in the air flow. Therefore, the amount of the air sucked into the propeller fan may be reduced, so that the amount of the air blown out by the propeller is reduced.
Therefore, the present invention has implemented from the view of the foregoing situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide an integral-type air conditioner that can perform excellent ventilation with a simple construction.
The present invention has another object to provide an integral-type air conditioner that can enhance installation of a heater, and still further object to provide an integral-type air conditioner that can prevent a drain pan from being thermally distorted by the heater.
The present invention has still further object to provide an axial fan device that can increase a fan discharging amount (air blow-out amount from a fan), and also provide an integral-type air conditioner having the axial fan device.
In order to attain the above objects, according to the present invention, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner (10) comprising an indoor heat exchanger (11), an indoor fan (12), an outdoor heat exchanger (13) and an outdoor fan (14) which are integrally equipped, the indoor heat exchanger (11) and the indoor fan (12) being disposed in an indoor-side chamber (21) while the outdoor heat exchanger (13) and the outdoor fan (14) is disposed in an outdoor-side chamber (22), the indoor-side chamber (21) and the outdoor-side chamber (22) being partitioned by a partition plate (20), characterized in that the partition plate (2) is equipped with a top panel (42) having a ventilation opening portion through which the outside air is supplied from the outdoor-side chamber (22) into the indoor-side chamber (21), and a ventilation shutter (49) for opening/closing the ventilation opening portion (48) of the top panel (42) at any open area ratio to freely adjust the opening degree of the ventilation opening portion (48).
In the air conditioner, the ventilation shutter (49) is secured to the top panel (42) so as to be freely slidable, and the opening degree of the ventilation opening portion (48) is freely adjusted through the sliding motion of the ventilation shutter (49).
The air conditioner further comprises a cabinet (19), wherein the cabinet (19) is designed in a sleeve shape, and the surrounding of the outdoor-side chamber (22) is compartmented by the cabinet (19), and the top panel (42) of the partition plate (20) is disposed inside the cabinet (19).
In the air conditioner, the top panel (42) of the partition plate (20) is designed to be downwardly inclined to the outdoor-side chamber (22).
The air conditioner further comprises a fan casing (34) disposed between the partition plate (20) and the indoor fan (12) in the indoor-side chamber, wherein vent ports (50) are formed at the lower portion of the fan casing (34), and the outside air introduced from the ventilation opening portion (48) of the partition plate (20) into the indoor-side chamber (21) is guided to the indoor fan (12) through the vent ports (50A).
In the air conditioner, the ventilation opening portion (48) comprises plural ventilation ports that are formed in the top panel (42) in juxtaposition with one another.
In the air conditioner, the ventilation shutter (49) is equipped with a large number of fine holes (51) each having an opening area smaller than each of the ventilation ports (48).
In the air conditioner, the ventilation shutter (49) is equipped with a lever (54) extending to the indoor-side heat exchanger side, the opening degree of the ventilation ports (48) being adjusted by sliding the lever (54).
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner (10) comprising an indoor heat exchanger (11), an indoor fan (12), an outdoor heat exchanger (13) and an outdoor fan (14) which are integrally equipped, the indoor heat exchanger (11) and the indoor fan (12) being disposed in an indoor-side chamber (21) while the outdoor heat exchanger (13) and the outdoor fan (14) is disposed in an outdoor-side chamber (22), the indoor-side chamber (21) and the outdoor-side chamber (22) being partitioned by a partition plate (20), characterized by further comprising an indoor fan casing (34) that is disposed between the indoor fan (12) and the partition plate (20) in the indoor-side chamber (21) and guides air flow induced by rotation of the indoor fan (12), and an electrical heater (55) disposed in the indoor-side chamber (21) for heating the air, wherein the indoor fan casing (34) has a heater lower-portion mounting portion (64) in which the lower portion of the electrical heater is mounted.
In the air conditioner, the heater lower-portion mounting portion (64) has a guide face (65) having a tapered shape that is upwardly increased in cross-sectional area from the lower end thereof to the upper end thereof.
The air conditioner further comprises a drain pan (33) for withdrawing water occurring on the indoor heat exchanger (11), wherein the electrical heater (55) is disposed to be above the drain pan (33) through the heater lower-portion mounting portion (64) and adjacent to the indoor heat exchanger (11), and the lower end portion of the electrical heater (55) is wholly covered by the heater lower-portion mounting portion (64).
In the air conditioner, the heater lower-portion mounting portion (64) of the indoor fan casing (34) is disposed to be spaced from the drain pan (33) at a predetermined distance.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner (10) including an indoor heat exchanger (11), an indoor fan device (12), an outdoor heat exchanger (13) and an outdoor fan device (164) which are integrally equipped, the indoor heat exchanger (11) and the indoor fan (12) being disposed in an indoor-side chamber (21) while the outdoor heat exchanger (13) and the outdoor fan (14) is disposed in an outdoor-side chamber (22), the indoor-side chamber (21) and the outdoor-side chamber (22) being partitioned by a partition plate (20), characterized in that the outdoor fan device (164) comprises an axial fan (14) for sucking the air at the suction side thereof and blowing out the air thus sucked to the outdoor heat exchanger (13) through rotation of the axial fan (14), and an air guide member disposed at the suction side of the axial fan (14) for guiding the air at the suction side of the axial fan to the axial fan.
In the air conditioner, the outdoor fan device (164) further comprises a driving motor (25) for driving the axial fan (14) and a support member (24) for supporting the driving motor (25), wherein the air guide member is fixed to the support member (24).
In the air conditioner, the air guide member comprises at least two air guide plates (161,162) that are equipped to the support member so as to be raised from the support member (24) at a predetermined angle, and air holes (159, 160) formed in the support member (24) in connection with the air guide plates (161, 162), the flow of the air at the suction side of the axial fan (14) being deflected to the air holes (159, 160) by the air guide plates (161, 162) and then sucked through the air holes (159, 160) into the axial fan (14).
In the air conditioner, the air guide plates (161, 162) are raised from the support member (24) substantially in the perpendicular direction to the air flow at the suction side of the axial fan.
In the air conditioner, the air guide plates (161, 162) are raised from the support member (24) so as to be inclined in a direction confronting the air flow direction at the suction side of the axial fan (14).
In the air conditioner, the air guide plates (161, 162) are integrally formed with the support member (24).
In the air conditioner, the whole or a part of each of the air guide plates (161, 162) is disposed within the outer peripheral edge of the axial fan.